Due to the announcement of the introduction of an EU law for reducing injuries to a pedestrian in the event of a collision between a pedestrian and a vehicle, new vehicles must be designed in such a way that the injuries to the pedestrian in a collision remain within the limits required by this EU law.
A first strategy for reducing injuries to pedestrians aims at creating a crumple zone for the pedestrian via modifications in the bumper and the vehicle design to thus reduce the risk of injury via a passive approach.
A second strategy attempts to recognize the impact of a pedestrian using a suitable sensor system and by subsequently activating a pedestrian protection device such as, for example, an external airbag on the A columns and/or by creating the required crumple zone by lifting the engine hood. The most diverse sensor principles may be used in the active approach, such as acceleration sensors, pressure sensors, knock sensors, piezoelectric and/or optical sensors, etc. The sensors may be situated on a grille support or on a bumper.
A method and a device which, based on the input signals, which may be acceleration signals, make a triggering decision for a pedestrian protection arrangement from the related art, the device including a feature extraction block and a decision logic.